UFC 104 Preview: Ryan Bader, Eric Schafer Meet in Potential Slugfest

Arizona Combat Sports fighter and The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 winner Ryan "Darth" Bader (9-0) will battle Eric "Red" Schafer (11-3-2) in a light heavyweight tilt on UFC 104's free SpikeTV portion of the undercard on Saturday night. Bader will enter the contest following a complete drubbing of wrestler Carmelo Marrero at UFN 18 and a first round beatdown of The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 runner-up Vinny Magalhaes. Schafer is currently on a two-fight win streak with victories over former UFC fighter Antonio Mendes and returning brawler Houston Alexander.

There isn't much analysis that needs to be said in this match-up. Schafer's Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills on the ground coupled with his boxing/Muay Thai skills will be pitted against Bader's size, strength, wrestling pedigree, and power punching. It could almost be said that this is a similar fight to Schafer's encounter with Michael Bisping at middleweight due to the surrounding storyline of the up-and-comer battling the veteran. Bisping's gameplan in their bout back at UFC 66 is probably a road that Bader will want to travel. Bisping's power punching and takedown defense proved to be the key to demolishing Schafer, and Bader could easily implement that same gameplan at UFC 104.

It's hard not to like Schafer though. He's a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Henry Matamoros and Pedro Sauer, his heroes include "Chuck F'n Norris", and he has a bachelors in Biology/Chemistry. Smart, witty, and dangerous on the floor. Being a likable guy goes a long way with fans, but winning this fight is going to be a challenge. As Bader has pointed out, he'll likely try to maintain his feet and work his power punching on Schafer, something Schafer has succumbed to in the past. Schafer will need to show some improvement in this bout if he wants to put Bader into any danger.

This fight will come down to the striking game as both men feel they'll nullify each other on the floor, and on paper -- Schafer has the advantage in experience. The only problem with that assumption, however, is that Bader's punching can effectively end his opponent's evening in one shot. Schafer has talked about his years of training in boxing and Muay Thai over the experience that Bader has in those departments, but we could have easily said the same thing in the Bisping bout.

Schafer has Patrick Barry, Razaak Al-Hassan, and Ben Rothwell at his camp training for all of their fights respectively along with each other, so we'll see if he can train his striking enough to give Bader a run for his money. In my eyes, this is Bader's fight to lose on the feet. I'll be a bit amazed if we see both men simply bang it out, but from their pre-fight interviews throughout the blogosphere -- it looks like that's exactly what they intend to do.